Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Cause/Effect
♦ Sufficient
♦
Contributory
Cause/Effect
♦ Necessary Causes
♦ The necessary cause must be present in order for the effect to
occur.
♦ For example, the Flu virus must be present in order for the effect
(the disease) to occur.
• A person may make himself more susceptible by staying up until
4:00 AM.
♦ • A person may make himself more susceptible by a haphazard
diet of junk food.
♦ • A person may make himself more susceptible by walking
around in the rain with no shoes.
Cause/Effect
♦ • A person may make himself more susceptible
by sitting in a draft.
♦ But we can consider none of these items as the
necessary cause of the Flu. The Flu Bug has to
attack before the willfully derelict individual gets
the Flu.
Example: Necessary Cause: A spark is necessary to
ignite a gasoline engine.
♦ The HIV virus must be present for AIDS to occur.
Cause/Effect
♦
Cause/Effect
♦ The crime bill, replete with midnight basketball
and handicrafts will not do away with gang
violence.
♦ Economic ills cannot be treated until the
complexity of the issue is addressed and the greed
factor of human nature is checked.
The argument that productivity itself will improve
the economy fails to take into account that
productivity by itself will not bring down prices
unless companies are willing to turn out more for
less profit.
Cause/Effect
7. Allow for causes that may nullify predicted
effects.
Example: The increase in the minimum wage is a
short sighted view some labor leaders see as a
solution. But wage increases lead to higher prices to
pay for the wage increases-leading to another
unfortunate effect -a higher cost of living- refueling
a demand for another wage increase.
Cause/Effect
Example: When the federal government
closed down Fort Ord and the San Diego
Shipyard, it did so as an economy move,
not realizing that depressing the local
economy created a greater demand for
disaster relief, wiping out all the economic
gains.
Cause/Effect
♦ Example: People feel more empowered
if they are given more credit,
♦ but the more credit one has, the more the
bank reckons the liabilities potential.
♦ If you can borrow $50,000 on your
signature, you can also owe the bank
$50,000 on your signature.
Cause/Effect
♦ Example: Governmental subsidies can prop
up prices artificially, but can weaken
company’s resolve to compete in the world
market.
♦
Cause/Effect
♦ 8. Avoid predicting contradictory effects.